Author Crush - Kristin Cashore

Three years ago, before the second love of my life (the Kindle, duh) was on the scene, I went to Barnes and Noble looking to buy a copy of A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I found the "B" section, but instead of finding the book I came for, all I found was an empty space of cold coppery metal bookshelf.

I am so so happy that "Cashore" is so alphabetically close to "Bray," because this book was in the spot next to it.


I normally don't love fantasy. I can't be bothered to break my head learning new places, species, languages, kingdoms, social stratifications, blah blah blah. But the premise of this book was interesting enough - a world where some people are born with a Grace, which is kind of like a superpower, and Katsa, a girl who fights for the right to use hers for good and not evil - for me to bring it home with me.

I am so. glad. I did.

You guys, in the YA Author's Pantheon, Kristin Cashore gets ultimate storyweaving goddess status.  She weaves worldbuilding elements, characters, plot points, and emotional hooks together with her sweeping narrative voice so seamlessly, that before you know it three hours have passed, you're moving to one of the Seven Kingdoms tomorrow, you're reasonably sure you're Katsa's best friend and/or that she would kill you if you crossed her, but you would jeopardize it all to jump on her handsome Prince friend, and most of all?

You feel like you've just left a freaking five star story spa. 
I'm not even exaggerating. You feel relaxed and content and blissful and AWASH in the awesome, awesome story. Kristin's writing is like a cashmere blanket made out of letters and words; rich, luxurious, and one of the best things to wrap yourself up in.

Yeah. I know.

And that's just her books.

Kristin is one extra-classy authoress.

She is absolutely effervescent, though she is not hyper or even perky, really. Her love for writing and for her characters radiates off of her, whether on her blog or in person (which you would know if you had a serious author crush on her and plugged her name into YouTube.) Watch this video of her detailing her writing process for an audience of admirers.

Yeah, you heard her right. She writes all her stories longhand. IN A NOTEBOOK. Don't you just want to (buy yourself a notebook and some pens and) hang out in a coffeeshop with her and write magical stories with strong heroines and hunky Princes? 


As if all that wasn't enough, she is such an awesome cheerleader for other writers. She wrote some beautiful words about writing, fear, and letting go here, and her NaNoWriMo Pep Talk from a couple of years ago is truly inspirational. 


Her next book, Bitterblue, is being released soon. They haven't announced a date, but Kristin posted some photos of the manuscript (Yes! It's paper! Full of Post-It notes!) on her blog the other day, and I totally freaked out. In a good way, you know.


That makes it official! I have a ginormous author crush on Kristin Cashore.


Have you read Graceling and Fire? Are you as obsessed as I am?

Delighted to be Devastated (Crit Diaries)

cc Phil Gilbert

PSA: I seriously THANK GOD for the day that Gina agreed to read my atrocious first draft. She has been my biggest cheerleader on this project, and if I ever make it to publication some day, she'll be a huge part of the reason. She's not mean, beastly or monstrous - she gave me just the critique I needed. And she rules. Okay, on with the show.

My post from yesterday about my unflappable crit partner, Gina, garnered a couple of concerned comments. "Don't change your story just to please people."

I'm here to assure you - I didn't. Example? Sure.

There's one particularly evil character in my first (I know, never-gonna-be-published, blah blah) novel.
Gina said she wasn't buying it. That character isn't evil. Not in the least.
I could have made the character nice, which would have made Gina happy.
But that's not the story I want to tell.  I just knew - KNEW - this character was going to have to be pretty nasty. Be redeemable in the next book, (ha!) maybe, and even a little bit in this one - but NASTY. It was going to be key in a couple of other character's developmental arcs, and I just couldn't sacrifice it.
So I talked with Gina about it (clarification - I have never actually talked to Gina.) and she helped me figure out how to make this character a little more contemptible (G is still not happy with this whole aspect of the story, btw, and for now I don't care.) 


This is crit that helps. This is crit that makes us grow. It is collaborative, it listens, it discusses, it challenges.
It is two-way. TWO WAY.
When Gina brought up a problem with my story, it was because she was invested in it, invested in me. She wants to read it, and she wants other people to read it, the way I see it. She wants the story to be its best.
Writers, would you have it any other way?

My author crush Beth Revis wrote an incredible post on this today, complete with a diagram, for those of you who like that sort of thing (I do.) I'm printing it out and tacking it on my wall.

It's not just true of writing, you guys. It's true of life. Criticism stings. We've all gotten it, in nice ways, in not-so-nice ways, in ways that make us cry but end up being good for us. (Oh, hey, High Holidays sermon.)
But if we hear it right, if we respond to it right, if we use it as a challenge, it make us grow. And isn't that an incredible thing?


(Now, do me a favor and go shine some light into Gina's Revisions Cave.)

A Great Crit Partner Will (Crit Diaries)

A great crit partner is the cross between your best friend, a perfect grammarian, someone you've never met, a wonderful writer, and your biggest fan.

Assuming she is the perfect balance of all these things, she will:

• Tell you when your main character is being dense.
• Tell you when your romantic hero is acting like a douchebag.
• Remind you that, though the action you've written seems like fun, it is only possible in Mary Poppins. Or the Matrix.
• Tell you when your romantic hero is acting like an old man.
• Correct your dialogue tag punctuation. Again. And again and again and again. And...oh! One more time.
• Scold you when your main character is being denser.
• Tell you when your romantic hero is creepy, creepy, EW, CREEPY, Leigh Ann!
• Scream at you when your main character is THE DENSEST GIRL THAT EVER LIVED.
• Fire up the cheese-o-meter and tell you when no couple, no matter how much in love they are, would ever say that to each other.
• Remind you about birth control. Not yours, your character's. (Or maybe yours too.)
• Tell you that if your characters are going to talk that way and/or use that language, you might as well be writing GA (geriatric adult) fiction.
• Endure (and sweetly respond to) dozens of insipid emails from you with titles like, "Let's talk about kissing"
• Give you permission, and even encouragement, to write more kissing scenes.
• Add up the number of days that have passed in your story.  Remind you that 10 days does not equal 1 week.
• Read a scene a second time. Tell you that's still not good enough. She knows you can do better.
• Give you query fever.
• Read the scene a third time. Tell you to do the happy dance, because now you've got it. And she knew you would.
• Talk you down from query fever.
• Knock you over the head with stories of her form rejections to save your mortal soul from query fever.
• Break your heart.
• Cheer you on.
• Make everything about your story SO. MUCH. BETTER.

Thanks, Gina.
Can't wait to see your gorgeous book in print. It is a pleasure to read and a privilege to give feedback, and even more of a privilege to get feedback from you.

PSA: I seriously THANK GOD for the day that Gina agreed to read my atrocious first draft. She has been my biggest cheerleader on this project, and if I ever make it to publication some day, she'll be a huge part of the reason. She's not mean, beastly or monstrous - she gave me just the critique I needed. And she rules. Okay, on with the show.

Friday Playlist! Arcade Fire, the Fray, and the Postal Service

I have an obsessive personality (I think it takes one to write something book-length, no?), and so it's no surprise to me when I realize that I've listened to the same few songs on repeat for pretty much the entire week to inspire writing, revising, polishing, etc. I think I'll put the list up every week - sometimes it's one song, sometimes it's ten - just for fun.

Here we go!

Arcade Fire: "Wake Up." - This is one of my all-time favorite songs to put on the car when you're driving down the freeway with windows open. It's driving, powerful, and feels like a freefall every time it's on. Love it.  Perfect for the "your characters just kicked ass but now are kind of scarred by it" muse.

The Fray: "Ungodly Hour." - So haunting, so sad, just like all the best Fray songs. Still there's a deep love in here. Perfect for writing the gut-wrenching stuff.

The Postal Service: "Brand New Colony" - Words can't describe how much I love this song. Optimistic in the face of suckiness, and we all have days when we need  that, right? Right?

Have an awesome weekend, you guys! I'm planning a reading binge myself, with Hourglass and Blood Red Road on the front page of my Kindle.

Pitch Contest with Agent Victoria Marini

If you're ever going to get published, you need a champion for your novel, a Batman to your Robin. That's why agents are so awesome (I hear,) and why it's also nearly impossible to find the perfect one. So, when Chanelle describes her agent Victoria Marini as" a dream agent," I sit up and listen.

Lucky for us, Victoria is listening to up to 150 pitches in a contest via Chanelle's blog! You need a completed MS and a two-sentence pitch. It ends on July 25, so head on over and throw your hat in the ring. Or, um, your sentences in the slush pile.

Thanks so much for the opportunity, ladies!

Sending Our Babies Off (Querying)

Well, folks, it's official. I have query fever. (I blame Gina.) Last night I sat down to try my hand at writing a query letter for my (so close I can taste it) completed novel.

Querying is the terrifying, soul-ripping art of telling an intensely critical stranger enough about your 80,000 word novel in just 250 words to make them want to buy it.

I'll just let that sink in for a sec.

This novel is my fourth baby (the only one made out of words.) I have three human ones (made of skin and bones and souls.)

If you asked me to tell you about my first (human) baby, here's a tiny sampling of what I might tell you:
When  he was born, I could have written a love letter to his tiny wrinkled feet, I was so obsessed with them.
 I wrote a blog post that was mostly concerned with the scent of his baby breath.
I remember that time he gave himself a black eye with a plastic spoon, and how his first word was "ball."
When he was two, he loved to tromp around the kitchen in only his diaper and dress shoes.
His right eye closes a little bit more than his left when he smiles.
 When he says the word "elephant" it sounds like "oh-fant."
His favorite color is blue, unless you're talking about superheroes, in which case it's red, for Iron Man.
Yesterday, he braved the honey bees to pick me a bouquet of clover flowers from our backyard.

But here's what his preschool registration forms want to know about him:
His name is Asher.
He is four years old.
He does not have any allergies.

So, if you ask me to tell you about my novel,
I might go on and on and on about my main character's struggles and insecurities, what bugs her about her mom, what makes her heart race.
I would tell you about how she misses her dad, and how he's the only one who could have helped her make sense of the conflict.
 I would tell you how running makes her feel powerful, and how her boring life secretly always made her feel safe, and how actually being powerful now makes her scared.
I would tell you how thrilled I am for her that she is falling in love so hard and so deep.
 I would talk about how the most difficult choices in her life are going to also turn out to be the most rewarding.
 I would tell you how much I love her, and the other characters, and how proud I am of them, because I know that what they did took a lot of guts and bravery.

But agents and publishers? Here's what they want me to tell them:
 Who is the main character?
 What's the main conflict?
How many words are in it?

Ugh. Consider my heart torn out plopped down on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. 


And that's a query letter.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater - Elana Johnson's ARC Contest! (Author Crush)

What makes a great story? I mean, what really sticks with you, grabs onto your heart and never lets you go?

The answer is "a lot of things," of course, but for me, a few of them are: stunning prose, gut-wrenching obstacles to be overcome, incredible characters, and a timeless love story.

Oh. And a beautiful cover doesn't hurt.


I've been in love with Maggie Stiefvater Maggie Stiefvater's "Wolves of Mercy Falls" series since I accidentally downloaded the first one, Shiver onto my Kindle. (True story.)

The third and final book came out last week and It. Is. INCREDIBLE.

What? You want some sample lines? Nooooo problem.

"Overhead, the stars were wheeling and infinite, a complicated mobile made by giants." 

I know, I know. Now, how about this:

"There is no better taste than this: someone else's laughter in your mouth." (*sigh* *swoon*)

It's these kinds of things that make me fall in love with an author and leave me star-struck by her. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Maggie Stiefvater is a prose goddess in the pantheon of YA authors, and I bow to her.

You know what might be approaching how incredible this series is? The fact that Elana Johnson (another author crush and prose goddess, yes, you'll hear more about her from me later, DON'T WORRY) is giving away a SIGNED ARC of the last book, Forever today on her blog!!!!

If I win it, I won't send it to any of you, but I will let you borrow my Kindle copy. So, that's something.

Girl Power (Crit Diaries)

I've always hated Belle.

Belle is a tricky character. You think she's all, "ra-ra-Feminism, yay!" She is independent! She walks to town by herself! She sings in a meadow and doesn't care who hears!

 For crying out loud, she loves books! BOOKS!

And she refuses this guy, so we all think she's doing pretty well for herself.

(Um, gross.)

But we all know the story. She lands at the Beast's castle, hates it, decides to ditch. In the middle of the winter. In the middle of the night. With no map.

(What? I never imagined there would be starving, vicious wolves in these dark winter woods! I'm scared, a need a big strong man to save me!)

Sadly, Belle is my go-to example of a girl who looked like a promisingly strong, smart female character, and then just....wasn't. She reads books, sure, but does she learn anything from them? Sadly the answer seems to be "no." It always frustrated me so much. (Luckily, my baby girl will have Princesses Mulan and Tiana to learn from....)

So, when I set out to write a strong female main character, what did I do?

Yeah, you guessed it. I wrote about a girl who cries a lot, is pretty dense, whines even more, and has a little bit of trouble making strong decisions without the help of her man. Did I mention she's dense?

Katniss would not be happy.


Today's task: Go through the MS and delete all references to my MC being a total dolt. And then add some opportunities for her to show up her boyfriend(s) and her enemies, and to kick some ass.

Anyone else have thoughts on what makes a strong girl character, and how to write one? It's not as easy as you might think, I'm learning....

Punching Your Readers in the Gut (Crit Diaries)

I had an incredible writing day yesterday. I didn't mean for it to happen, necessarily, but I got into a great conversation about choices in my story with the unflappable Gina.

She wanted a love triangle, and I told her there was one, but it wouldn't show up till the very end of the book. She told me that was stupid, and she was right. So I moved one character's confession of love up about a dozen chapters, which is two thirds of the way into the book. And the confessee told the confessor her choice. I thought it was awesome, you guys, and so wonderfully sad for the  guy who didn't get a "yes."

I sent it to Gina for approval, all proud. She sent it back. "Try again. Not good enough."

She told me that, while the conversation involved a lot of pain on each of their parts, it wasn't painful enough for the reader. Why? There was no impossible choice for the character to make. Her choice seemed too easy. When she finally made it, it wasn't painful. It didn't hurt Gina to read about it. And she wanted to be punched in the gut.

This entry in the crit diaries has a happy ending. I busted my head over the scene, and I finally got the "good job" and approval to do a writer's happy dance I was waiting for. And I learned an important lesson. It's not only the physical stakes that have to be high for the characters, but also the emotional ones, to be a great story.

(The Jury's still out on how great the story as a whole actually is, btw, because my two readers for this round haven't gotten to the end. Still nervous as all getout. Obviously, I'll keep you posted.)

What's that? You want to read a little bit? Okay, sure, since I don't have any stats for you.

She realized how badly part of her wanted that existence back, that place where she could stand here and choose him without the nagging feeling that she was choosing wrong.

So, when he moved close to her, put his arm around her waist, and pulled her toward him, even though everything told her she had to turn away, had to refuse him, she didn’t. He kissed her once, then pulled back slightly. She stood there, unable to bring herself to move. So he kissed her again, and her lips moved against his, testing, remembering. Her heart warmed, and soared toward him, toward a future that she had dreamed of for years and years. Their kiss was knowing, and wonderful, and safe, but it didn’t grow deeper. It lingered there, a memory of a hope that she couldn’t quite let go of.

She drew her palms up and put them against his chest, lightly, stopping this. He had to stop, had to leave her poor heart to thud out of her and fall to the floor in peace.

Anyone else have a critique or revision experience with forcing your characters to make difficult emotional choices?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

You can read all over the writing blogosphere how painful the critique and revision process is.

I have to confess, I wasn't actually prepared for it. I expected to be gutted, depressed, and emotionally-eating up a storm. My reaction has been a little different than that.

Maybe it's my critique partner, the ever-fabulous Gina, for her loving and brilliant comments and observations. Every time she (lovingly) tears something down, I feel like someone tore my heart out. Or my stomach. But about five seconds later?

I get SO FREAKING EXCITED.

Here's why, I think:  I thought the story was good, and I thought the characters were awesome, and then along comes this comment that COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING YOU GUYS, and now the CHARACTERS ARE GOING TO BE SO MUCH MORE KICKASS.

*Ahem.*

So, I'll go on record. I love revisions. I love the rollercoaster ride that changes every single day (well, if you're lucky enough to have a fast crit partner like I do), I love despairing about my story and then changing one thing and then feeling like it is better than ever.

What. A. Rush.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go move a confession of unrequited love. And add some kissing. *sigh.*

(Because you know you want to listen to the song now.)

I'm Pretty Sure I'm the Next Stephenie Meyer

At least, that's what I've had to tell myself to keep myself going through this whole thing.

I'm exhausted. I really should go to sleep. But what if....?
My kids really want me to play superheroes with them for the thousandth time. But what if...?
I really should get up from the computer and  cook something decent for dinner tonight. But what if....?

This novel has allowed me to dream, and I am not a dreamer.  I never stood in front of my mirror with a hairbrush and gave the fake Oscar acceptance speech.

But with this project? The other day I even tapped out the "thank yous" that would only ever be seen if this book goes to print. (Yes, Gina, you would be there.) It felt really good, on a lot of levels.

So even if this first draft sits in the Cloud forever, or even if it sits on Amazon and sells three copies, I'm so, so glad I did it.

It's now on quasi-sub, and the very first feedback comments have been on the positive side. So we'll see what happens.

Official "The First Draft is Finished" Stats:

Words: 80,018
Pages: 377
Chapters: 36, plus epilogue
Time from first note to typing "The End": 7 months
Amount of Love for the characters and the story: endless

Thanks for reading. I'll keep you posted.

The Official First Draft

Today, I finished the Official First Draft.

It's not perfect. Not nearly. But all the plot lines, are, I think, coherent. The voice is mostly strong and consistent, at least as strong as I'm capable of at this point.

But, since my very first note on this whole thing almost 7 months ago, I'm starting to think that there might be the slimmest of slim chances that it might be published. Whether self or with a small publisher, I don't know, but I finally believe enough in the story and the characters and my ability to see something through this far to say that with some confidence.

It's on the Kindle and the Kindle Bot is reading it to me aloud. This begins the second-pass edit. I'm beside myself with excitement.

Some stats of a new type:

Title: The Travelers
Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi/Paranormal-ish Romance
Word Count: ~80,000 words or ~325 pages
A little bit about it:  The only remarkable things about bored, directionless high school senior Annika Fitzsimmons are the painful dreams she has night after night and the boy with blue eyes she always sees in them. During winter break, a visit to her grandmother reveals that Nik's future lies in Traveler's City. What she doesn't know is that her arrival there will change everything.


Listening to: The Travelers Playlist. I'll organize and post an updated version here soon. :)
Obsessed with: My first draft read by the KindleBot. LOVE. IT.

I'm still looking for betas, and I'll be contacting those of you who expressed willingness/interest soon. If you're still around, thanks for reading. :)

Editing: Trimming the Fat

I've written several incarnations of the Big Dramatic Scene Where Everything Changes (one of them, at least). I had poured my heart into each of them, found it difficult to delete even a single sentence, and so all of them remained smooshed together in the Scrivener doc with random tags like: ***REWRITE THIS!!!**** or ***ANOTHER IDEA**** or *!!!THIS ONE'S A KEEPER!!!* So today I began the hard work of separating them, rewriting some twistier twists and fillers, and separating the fat from the meat (there is a lot of fat.)

Edited: One scene, about 600 words axed (whew!)
Listening to: "Happiness" by the Fray. Again. On a loop. Seriously, this song is INCREDIBLE.
Obsessed with: Finishing this edit. I seriously can't keep my hands away from the keyboard. And that's a good thing.

Editing: What's the Worst That Could Happen?

It's been awhile. I've totally stalled on this blog over the last month, namely because I've been trying to balance moving into a new house (!!!) with doing a first-pass edit on this WIP (!!!) and something had to go on the back burner.  Most nights, I'd type some words, stumble into bed, and pass out. No time to do a rehash of the day's writing work. Or, as I've learned to say, I didn't make it a priority.

The triumph? I continued to work on the project nearly every day. (In addition to feeding my children, keeping the house clean, hosting a few little parties, etc. of course.) It's a bonafide first draft now, with, I think it's safe to say, all of the plot points solidly in place, and all characters where they're supposed to be. That is, until the second edit.

Most of the work I've been doing over the past month or so since I've posted has involved making things very, very bad for my characters. I had a decent story before I read this incredible, inspirational blog post by Natalie Whipple, but it had such a big influence on me that I started asking myself at every turn of the story - "This is a bad situation for my characters, but could it be any worse?" If the answer was "yes," then I made that worse thing happen. I think the story is a lot more compelling now. So, thanks, Natalie. (I have a girl/writer/mom crush on you and I wish we were besties.)

So here's a rundown of where I stand, writing-wise. I have 36 chapters and the draft is hovering right around 76,000 words, or about 300 pages. My main worries are that I've written a Mary Sue that everyone will hate, that the story sags in the middle, and that some things about the writing make this a non-page-turner (one being that I use third person tense, which is not that popular for YA right now.) I'm working under a quasi-deadline to have a draft manuscript to someone in the next couple weeks or so.

Here's where I stand, future-wise. I feel like I've invested too much time and energy - almost seven months of writing every day - to just store this baby in my drawer. I have a contact who is high up in the food chain of a small, up-and-coming publisher, and he's requested a full manuscript just as soon as I'm ready to let it out into the world. The sooner the better, he says. I told him I'd have it to him two and a half weeks ago.

I'm pretty sure the writing sucks. I'm pretty sure some characters are flat. I'm pretty sure it's not an intriguing story. Which is all a way of saying: I'm pretty sure he's not going to want it. (I'm not one for self-promotion, can you tell?)

Then, I'm at a crossroads. I could just sock it in a drawer and fondly remember the seven months that Nik and Davis were my constant companions, and congratulate myself on writing a story/book/whatever when most people only dream of getting that many coherent words all together at once. I could shop it out to small publishers or even agents, which I understand takes even more time and energy and a lot of stress. Or I could self-publish it in e-format and feel like it's out in the world. If you have your own Amazon page with a book with your name on it, maybe that's some small kind of accomplishment, even if you're ranked 118,487 in Kindle rankings. Or maybe I put it up there on Amazon for free and let any good reviews make me feel happy and accomplished.

I'd love to hear what you'd do next.

Time for stats:
Edited: 10 chapters in the past week (!) Yeah, I love this part.
Listening to: "Happiness" by the Fray. A hauntingly beautiful song about the elusive and stunning nature of happiness.
Obsessed with: Cilantro.

(If anyone is still reading this, thanks. Love you to pieces.)

Obsessive

I'm in the dreaded rewriting phase of this whole business.  I know, I've been saying editing, but really it's more revising or rewriting or...whatever (DNA writers just put up this fab post explaining the difference.)

I have a very one-track mind.  When I do something, I REALLY do it.  David (lovingly) calls it "an obsessive personality," and unfortunately for our firstborn, he inherited it from me.  It's how I got through rabbinical school remembering so much (yeah, I'm a rabbi.  Have we been over this?), and it's how I got 80,000 words of a rough draft pounded out in five months in just a few hours a week.

Anyway, the significance for this particular moment in our lives is that I have been frantically unpacking the house since we moved in ten days ago.  Every day I tell myself I'm going to squeeze a little writing/editing into the middle of the day, while the children nap, and it just doesn't happen.  I get so obsessed with hanging skirts or organizing toys or hanging pictures that I'm completely exhausted by the time David gets home, and I collapse.

Of course, I would have given up everything for the writing if that's what I really wanted to be doing. But, between you and me, my draft has been acting a little funny.  It's not the book I fell in love with.  My clumsy writing is making an incredible story look kind of awkward and boring.  Some days I think my twist isn't twisty enough. Some days I want to cry because I am terrified I'm writing a Mary Sue and everyone knows that people can't handle more than one of those pretty much ever, and Bella Cullen already fantastically fills the role.  Some days I think that OMG there is NO tension in this POS.  Some days I am so in love with the Boy that I'm terrified my writing will never do him justice (or maybe I just don't want to share him with anyone.)

And so I've been avoiding the draft. I don't want to talk to it about its problems, I just want it to go to rehab on its own accord. Or find a new author who can make it into something better.  Since I know it will do neither, I'm buckling down again.  But maybe I should just download the latest version of Scrivener first....

The TWIST! We have a TWIST!

Friends, I'll say it.  I was a little worried for the end of my WIP and how all the conflict was going to be tied up, and sort of resolved, in an interesting, shocking way.

I think I've got it.  I couldn't feel more relieved.

And not a moment too soon.  Serious.  Because I have to buckle down on this sucker like mad now.

All I'll say is that I owe it all to JJ Abrams and his flash of brilliance at the turn of the century.

Words Written: Oh, I have no clue.  More tomorrow.
Listening to: "Belief" by Gavin DeGraw.  Totally an important theme in my WIP, by the way.
Obsessed with:  The scene in The Hunger Games when Katniss remembers the first time she met Peeta (pg 25, you know you want to read it again.)  Absolutely heartbreaking.

-1584 Words and Faux Humility

 Writer friends, I am honest-to-God editing. For the first time, I am losing words.  Like a long overdue haircut, it feels really, really good.

You know how you read all those writing-blog posts about how to make your book snappier and more exciting, and draw readers in from the get go, like this fabulous recent one from my wish-she-was-my-friend Kiersten?  And how they always say, "Cut your first chapter, because you don't really need it?"  And how you're all, "Hmmm, I'm sure that's really great advice, I'll really have to consider that when I'm editing."  But then when you actually get to editing, you're all, "Whoa, I'm sure that's great advice for most writers, but my first chapter is flawless and not boring at all and also one hundred percent completely necessary?"  But then one of your betas gives you some excellent, lovingly scathing critique, and guess what she says?

Just guess.

"Cut the first chapter."

Unh.........

Anyway.  I cut a lot of the first chapter, and rewrote the rest of it.  So I lost about 3000  words and wrote a new 1200 or so.  And I have to say - it felt good.  Really good.

But you know what felt better?

I sent the revision to my Very Important Friend in the Publishing Industry and guess what?  No, guess.

He asked for a full.  A FULL.  As in, "Please send me your whole freaking book, because I maybe might want to think about publishing it."

Needless to say, I am freaking out.  I have a month to pull everything together, and I'm so excited and baffled and.....whoa.

Anyone want to beta?  (eeek)


Words written:  -1584
Total Words: 76658
Listening To: (or rather, watching) ALIAS, Season 2
Obsessed with:  THE ROYAL WEDDING OMG

2222 Words in 3 days, and Editing -While-Writing Gives Way to a New Acronym

Hello, friends.

So I told you in my last post how I'm finishing up writing the end of my first draft while going back and editing/beta-ing the first chapters.  I know, I know.  I've read all the advice, times one hundred ad nauseum, about How I'm Supposed to Do This:  write the whole draft, shelve it for a couple of weeks, then go back and start reading again.  I understand the wisdom of that, really I do.  But that's not how it worked out for me, and you know what?  I'm actually finding this whole writing-while-editing thing kind of awesome.  Going back and reading the beginning reminds me of little details I may have forgotten I already included, and it helps me keep characters consistent, or update them as I go.  Plus, it's given rise to a new acronym that I can just insert for myself when I want to make sure I rewrite something:

FTLOGPRWT  (For the love of G-d please rewrite this.)

Good times, friends, good times.

Words Written:  2222 (in 3 days)
Total Words: 78242
Chapters Edited: 2
Listening To: The Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack.  Delicious.
Obsessed with: the sunshine that stubbornly shines between storms here in Dayton.  Monday's forecast said, "A Very Rough Week Ahead," and this sunshine is out to prove it wrong.  Thank God.

6000 Words in 17 Days (Yikes!)

So, since my last post, a LOT has happened.  My sweetie baby sister got married, for one, and I was the matron of honor, and my kids were all in the wedding party to boot.  Fun/craziness!

(isn't she beautiful?)

Passover hit, which entailed at least two full days of cleaning, cooking, prepping, dressing children, and driving to/attending Seders (thanks to the two fabulous families that hosted us!)


My sweetie baby girl turned ONE!



Um....anyone who is actively writing a novel want to beta for me?  I'll do the same for you!  Puh-leeese?

Here are the stats.  For 17 days (oy):

Words written: 6000-ish
Pages edited: 45-ish
Total Words: 76020
Obsessed with: Matzah, butter, and honey.  Go try it, right now.  Now.
Listening to:  "Hesitate" by Steve Moakler.

2189 Words in 6 Days and a Beautiful Disaster

I have reached my word count goal.

The only problem?  The story's not finished.  (Seriously?  How?)

It is a disaster, but it is mine, and it is so beautiful.  The unfinished parts are kind of important and scattered, unfortunately, throughout the story.  I have to tie up maybe one of the most important conflict lines without making it feel rushed.  I have to do that while still leaving plenty of room for the next book in the series to latch on.  I have to decide whether, where and how my MC and the boy she loves are going to Do It, and whether there will be fallout, and what that will be, and whether that will ruin the next book, or whether I'll just keep that for the next book where it probably really belongs.  (I don't think they will Do It, by the way, although at the outset I did and I kindasorta wrote the scene.)

And I'm still adding new twists!  And heartbreaking scenes!  And great details!  Oh, I'm so in love.

The new goal is 84,000 words in the first draft, which works out to 14 chapters of 6,000 words.  Obviously, I'll keep you posted. 

Here are the stats.

Total words: 70682
Listening To: "Confidence" by Teddy Geiger (EMO!!!)
Obsessed with:  Harry Potter 7.1 on DVD next week Omigod!!!!!!